REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Final presentations by students in 2.009
Course 2 capstone class concludes with presentations to large crowd
Ho Yin Au—The Tech
Ho Yin Au—The Tech
Ho Yin Au—The Tech
Ho Yin Au—The Tech
Ho Yin Au—The Tech
Ho Yin Au—The Tech
On Monday, Dec. 9, students in 2.009: Product Engineering Processes, presented their final projects in Kresge Auditorium. The students worked together in teams of sixteen to eighteen throughout the semester to develop products and build prototypes related to the wellness-oriented theme dubbed “Be Well.” Each team was given a $6,500 budget to design their product and build prototypes. The event, a well-organized production complete with live music, began promptly at 7:30 p.m. with a musical performance by organist Epp Sonin.
Kresge was filled with spectators. Course 2 junior Ben Z. Niewood ’15 said he came to the event “out of general interest. I really like the idea [of the 2.009 projects]. I’m excited to do it next year. It’s a good way to learn about the process [of designing a product for market].”
Each of the color-coded teams presented their prototypes and explained their product in eight minutes, which was followed by five minutes for questions.
The Orange Team presented “Mira: The future of motorcycle navigation.” Mira allows motorcycle riders to read turn-by-turn directions fed from a GPS navigation system without looking away from the road. Mira projects the turn-by-turn directions in front of the wearer’s eye at an apparent distance of fifteen feet. The device could be profitably sold at around $399 according to the team’s pitch.
The Purple Team’s EquiTemp was designed to help horse riders determine when their horse is warmed-up and ready for a workout. The device consists of four temperature-sensing boots that the horse wears and a receiver that the rider wears like a wristwatch. Color-coded LED’s on the receiver indicate when each leg is warmed up sufficiently. The device is intended to help prevent injuries caused by insufficient warm ups.
An animatronic otter named Ollie was the Red Team’s design for a “virtual companion” to help dementia patients deal with stress. The students said a price of $500 would allow for profitable sales and said their product would be unique by being available to patients in assisted living facilities.
The Pink Team presented a mobile farm stand that the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) could use to help distribute produce. The cart is decorated with bright colors and a canopy to preserve the look of traditional farm stands. It is lightweight enough to be pulled by a bicycle, allowing the MFFC to promote fitness while delivering healthy produce. Cheetiri S. Smith ’14, a member of the team, stressed in an interview that the cart is about “so much more than … getting [produce] from A to B.”
Poseidon is the Green Team’s submersible device that projects a moving green dot onto the bottom of a pool at a customizable pace. It is meant to help triathletes pace themselves while training.
The White Team’s BitDex helps measure drill bits more quickly and more accurately than traditional methods. They said it would prevent machine shop errors that can cost $250 each. The tool measures bits with an optical sensor and supposedly could sell profitably for around $400.
SAN-X was the Blue Team’s project, a device that cleans wrestling mats more effectively than current mop-and-bucket methods. The team said SAN-X kills 99.9 percent of germs with UV light and steam rather than chemicals and will help protect wrestlers from skin diseases. They said they intended the product to have a $3500 retail price.
The Yellow Team created an instructive yoga mat called Glow. The mat, which works with computer software on an attached laptop, shows the student a video of a yoga pose and uses pressure sensors to determine if the student is executing the pose properly. The device uses color-coded LED’s to communicate to the student if they are distributing their weight properly.
Reflecting on the experience, Christiana Rosales of the Silver Team said that the project was “a lot of work” but that it probably taught her the most she’s learned at MIT.